Saw a man on the train who easily weighed 280 wearing Vibrams.

A guy I work with somehow went barefoot for international barefoot day or whatever it was called. Ever since then he has worn nothing but 3 different pairs of Vibrams. He doesn't run 10 feet but wears them everywhere, including court I am told.

At least races should be less crowded in the next 12 months.

Its like back to the 80s, when newbies were running 60 miles per week in tennis shoes because they had read about Rob De Castella in Runner's World.

Morning Commute wrote:

Laughed the whole way to the office.

Haha...

A guy who comes in at the same time every morning to physical therapy as I do wears his vibrams (even during the therapy session). I asked why he was there and he says he has a bad case of plantar fasciitis in both feet and also has IT band pain. He says it's been chronic for over 2 months now. I asked him how long he has been wearing vibrams and he said "Oh these? Since the beginning of March, I love them!"

My PT just shakes his head when the guy comes slapping into the clinic every morning...

The only problem here is that they should not be slapping the ground. I don't have any, but just from my knowledge of barefoot running, I know you want to land light on your midfoot. Well the place you land can vary, but they key issue is that you do actually have to do some work. People are slapping because they are not using the correct stablizing muscles in their feet, shins, and calves to give themselves a "light" landing. I guess someone might say you would naturally adjust your stride so you did do this stabilizing, light landing. However from what i have seen and what these stories say, some people just put the shoes on and try to run in them exactly as they would in cushioned training shoe. THey are missing the point.

5ker wrote:

another voice wrote:

You know people where shoes for different reasons. Some people wear crocs. Some people were flip flops. Some people were vibrams. They're not just for training.

Where, wear, were, were... well at least you got one out of four tries right!

Hahaha, this made my day. Thank you.

Also, the only time I've seen anyone wearing vibrams in a serious manner was a dude running in Seattle. Way too many hipsters out there for my liking.

Someone enlighten me here if I'm off. But I hear all these Vibrams fans talking about how we're "born to run" and our feet are designed for barefoot running, blah blah blah.....and I'm thinking, "Ok. I guess that makes sense on some level, but are we born to run on concrete and asphalt?" Because pretty much anytime I see someone wearing Vibrams they are running or walking on a hard man-made surface like a paved road or sidewalk. That just seems really retarded to me.

Morning Commute wrote:

Laughed the whole way to the office.

I guess Morning Commute feels superior to the man on the train.

I guess we should all adhere to Morning Commute's standard of attire since he clearly has all the pizazz needed to be a stud. It is unfortunate that he has to take time out of his work day to come and bash someone to make him feel more like a man. What a sad, sad life!!!

Please share your wisdom oh wise one!! Please share!

I bet that large man was laughing at you because you were wearing a pink dress shirt with fake croc skin dress shoes. I bet you had product in your hair too!

TOOL!!!!!

i kinda like running wrote:

Someone enlighten me here if I'm off. But I hear all these Vibrams fans talking about how we're "born to run" and our feet are designed for barefoot running, blah blah blah.....and I'm thinking, "Ok. I guess that makes sense on some level, but are we born to run on concrete and asphalt?" Because pretty much anytime I see someone wearing Vibrams they are running or walking on a hard man-made surface like a paved road or sidewalk. That just seems really retarded to me.

you got it right there. i work in a running store and we sell the things...and i can't tell you how many 50-something guys weighing 250lbs come in wanting to wear them because their knees hurt while running. none of them want to hear any of the advice we have to give because they read born to run and that's exactly what they believe they are. nevermind the sedentary life they've been leading the past 30 years.

honestly, this may sound bad but there are few more satisfying moments for me than when i see someone come back in the store asking to return their VFF's because they made their feet hurt, then we politely point to our "due to the fact that vff's are worn over bare feet, we cannot accept returns" sign. f'ing told you so.

In my experience, the Warrior Dash should have the highest quantity of Vibram wearers. It's the perfect side-show event for fad-chasing 20/30 somethings out for the next thing to FB/Twitter/Blog about. All for the sake of DeanK-esque glamour in the social media age. zzzzzing!

On a more serious note, the asphalt reality of a lot of these lemmings is sad (as noted above). Vibrams, to me, are protection for barefoot runners who run on rocks/trail/etc, and don't want thorns in their toes...

And lastly, to my bro "So WHAT?!?!":

I think you're getting a little carried away with your sarcasm and whining. Maybe you're new here, maybe you're not. Either way, Letsrun has a strong cynical tone to a lot of its discussions and it should be acknowledged and accepted by your participation that the practices and nuances of the running community beyond letsrun's competitive, mostly-objective scrope (ie. the RW readers, fad chasers, penguins, [a lot of] triathletes, etc.) are going to be made fun of every so often. The OP wasn't bragging about himself, and didn't even directly criticize the 280lb dude. I think he was just chuckling and sharing something that most of the LRC crowd would laugh about. Untie your panties, go for a run, and enjoy the show. CHEERS BROOOOOOO!

IT WAS ONLY MEANT AS A SILLY NON SEQUITUR!!!! HOPE IT MADE SOMEONE ELSE SMILE!!!!! :( ┌∩┐P.S. BLACK SUIT GOLD TIE :)

So WHAT?!?! wrote:

Morning Commute wrote:

Laughed the whole way to the office.

I guess Morning Commute feels superior to the man on the train.

I guess we should all adhere to Morning Commute's standard of attire since he clearly has all the pizazz needed to be a stud. It is unfortunate that he has to take time out of his work day to come and bash someone to make him feel more like a man. What a sad, sad life!!!

Please share your wisdom oh wise one!! Please share!

I bet that large man was laughing at you because you were wearing a pink dress shirt with fake croc skin dress shoes. I bet you had product in your hair too!

TOOL!!!!!

i saw i guy run the penn relays coporate DM this year in 5 fingers. stupid.

Everyone who is bashing vibrams sounds like a complete idiot. Just want to let you guys know. Just because you have 40 something year old men who are obese and wear vibrams doesn't mean the product is at fault.

So WHAT?!?! wrote:

Morning Commute wrote:

Laughed the whole way to the office.

I guess Morning Commute feels superior to the man on the train.

I guess we should all adhere to Morning Commute's standard of attire since he clearly has all the pizazz needed to be a stud. It is unfortunate that he has to take time out of his work day to come and bash someone to make him feel more like a man. What a sad, sad life!!!

Please share your wisdom oh wise one!! Please share!

I bet that large man was laughing at you because you were wearing a pink dress shirt with fake croc skin dress shoes. I bet you had product in your hair too!

TOOL!!!!!

Somebody sounds mad.

Sir Lance-alot wrote:

Actually, it is much sadder and more pathetic for people to hop obsessively on a fad bandwagon just because they've bought into some pseudo-scientific nonsense spewed a bestseller (or a blog or some other unscientific source). These are often (not always) the same types that suddenly eliminate all carbs from their diet because they've been brainwashed to believe that carbs are the root of all evil, or stop vaccinating their kids because they've read from some "expert" that vaccines cause autism, etc, etc.

Didn't realize that Nature was pseudo-scientific.